Route flown by Southwest Flight 2547, which has flown in a holding pattern near Tracy for several hours after crew discovered a mechanical problem on board. (FlightAware.com)

Updated 12:05 p.m.

A Southwest Airlines 737 with 139 passengers aboard landed safely Wednesday after experiencing a landing-gear problem and being forced into a holding pattern over the Central Valley for 3½ hours.

Flight 2547, to Chicago's Midway Airport, took off at 6:13 a.m. The pilot immediately notified tower personnel in Oakland that "we're having an issue with the aircraft ... we're going to need to return to the Oakland airport if we can get emergency return instructions."

When the tower asked the nature of the emergency, the pilot said, "It's an issue with our landing gear -- we don't know what it is yet."

Later reports suggested the problem was with the aircraft's landing gear -- and news reports suggested the issue may have been a blown tire.

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But the return was not as simple as it sounds. Because of the potential fire risk involved in landing a plane with a full load of jet fuel, the crew flew a long oval circuit over the Central Valley to burn off fuel before landing. The normal flight time to Chicago's Midway airport is normally about 3½ hours, so it took a while to consume the fuel on board.

The 737 made one low pass past the Oakland airport tower at about 9:55 a.m. so that ground personnel could confirm the status of the landing gear. After an air controller told the pilot "it looks good from our view" -- an opinion confirmed by another Southwest Airlines crew that watched Flight 2547 make its low fly-by -- the 737 executed one final approach circuit and touched down at 10:12 a.m.

In all, the flight was in the air for 3 hours and 59 minutes. The landing was covered live by several local TV outlets and carried nationwide on cable news channels.

Here's the full statement from Southwest Airlines, issued as the incident unfolded.

Flight 2547 departed Oakland for Chicago Midway with 139 passengers onboard. After takeoff, the Captain in Command made the decision to return to Oakland to check a maintenance item on the aircraft. With everything we do, Safety is of paramount importance and we appreciate our Customers’ patience while we work to get them to their final destinations for the holiday.

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The airline said the jet would be taken out of service for an inspection.